Introducing the Feminist Archive (East Midlands)

The Nottingham Feminist Archive Group and Manuscripts and Special Collections are delighted to announce the creation of:   FME: The Feminist Archive (East Midlands)  FPC: The Feminist Publications Collection The two new research collections are the result of a collaboration between the University and local activists who have been contributing their photos, papers and memories for …

Documenting the pandemic and beyond: website captures for the University Archives available to view

This is a post by Laura Peaurt, Digital Preservation Officer and Sarah Colborne, Archivist (Collections). Capture and Preservation  In a previous blog we discussed using Preservica, our digital preservation platform, to successfully capture websites and social media for the archive. This is known as web archiving.  The tools provided by the platform allow us to …

Advocates for animal welfare

Work has just finished on an 18-month project to catalogue papers held by Manuscripts and Special Collections which chart the progress made in promoting the concept of the Three Rs, the guiding principles of Reduction, Replacement and Refinement, in regards to the use of animals in scientific research. The work was made possible by a …

Last Orders at the Weston Gallery

This is a guest post by Dr David Beckingham, co-curator of the Last Orders exhibition, which opens at the Weston Gallery, Lakeside Arts in June. Last Orders examines cultures of alcohol consumption and abstinence in the East Midlands, with a particular focus on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Ubiquitous though pubs and drink may have …

Welcome Back Part 2: The Re-Re-Opening

For the last few months, only University of Nottingham staff/students have been able to visit the Reading Room, but as of the 13th April, we plan to reopen to the public, in line with Government advice. If you haven’t visited before or it’s been a while, here’s what to expect: Booking a Sit-and-Study space in …

Exhibition Fully Fashioned: Archival Remnants of the Textile Trade

Manuscripts and Special Collections’ latest exhibition entitled Fully Fashioned: Archival Remnants of the Textile Trade was officially opened by Professor Andy Long, Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor. The exhibition showcases the University of Nottingham’s business archives relating to lace and hosiery. Both of these industries were a major source of employment in the East Midlands and …

Look at our new Digital Gallery!

Around 1,500 digitised images from our collections are now available on the Manuscripts and Special Collections Digital Gallery. We have arranged the photographs, cartoons, portraits, maps, manuscripts, and pages from books into collections based on themes. These themes can be browsed from the front page of the Digital Gallery. Click the thumbnail to get to …

Ken Loach, Ken Coates and the European Union

In researching his 2016 British Academy award winning film ‘I, Daniel Blake’, director Ken Loach visited the St Ann’s Advice Centre in Nottingham (a community organisation offering advice on welfare benefits, employment and debt). Back in October 1966, two tutors of the University of Nottingham’s Adult Education Department, Ken Coates and Bill Silburn, had conducted …

Launch of the iBook ‘Parchment, Paper & Pixels’

On 28 February Professor Jeremy Gregory, Pro-Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Arts, formally launched our first iBook ‘Parchment, Paper and Pixels: Highlights from Manuscripts and Special Collections at The University of Nottingham’. The iBook showcases some of the treasures held in Manuscripts and Special Collections, with a range of short articles illustrated with images, …

Bookish Bingo

Do you know your local literary heroes? Do you like prizes? As part of World Book Day, we’re running a competition for three people to win a library tote bag filled with a waterbottle, notebook, pencil, postcards, keyring and lolly. All you have to do is match eight local authors (1-8) to eight locations (A-H) …